Hannon v. Beard

979 F. Supp. 2d 136, 2013 WL 5518980, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140796
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 27, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 06-10700-NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 979 F. Supp. 2d 136 (Hannon v. Beard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hannon v. Beard, 979 F. Supp. 2d 136, 2013 WL 5518980, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140796 (D. Mass. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

GORTON, District Judge.

Twenty-seven pro se prisoners have filed suit against the Massachusetts Department of Correction (“Massachusetts DOC”) and some of its current and former officials, UMass Correctional Health (“UMCH”) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (“Romney”). They seek monetary damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a variety of perceived constitutional violations. Pending before the Court are the defendants’ motions to dismiss, a related motion for clarification and plaintiffs’ motions for service of process and extension of time. For the reasons that follow, the defendants’ motions to dismiss and motion for clarification will be allowed and the plaintiffs’ motions for service of process and extension of time will be denied.

I. Background

In April, 2006, 40 prisoners housed at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center (“SBCC”) in Shirley, Massachusetts filed a single pro se suit challenging the conditions of their confinement. The original complaint named 63 defendants. Pursuant to a Court order, plaintiffs individually filed amended pro se complaints in June, 2007. All of the amended complaints alleged that SBCC was “environmentally unsafe” because the conditions presented an unreasonable risk to prisoners’ health and that officials repeatedly denied their attempts to file grievances. Certain plaintiffs also alleged that defendants had ordered retaliatory prison transfers, illegally confiscated inmate property, falsely accused one inmate of rape, denied inmates access to the law library and the right to provide legal assistance to other inmates, denied access to training programs and suspended visitation rights without first providing a disciplinary board hearing. See Docket No. 277.

The procedural history of the case since 2006 is protracted and convoluted, and is described in detail in earlier orders (e.g., Docket Nos. 250, 277, 300). Since 2006, the parties have been reduced in number to 27 plaintiffs and 29 defendants and the issues limited to constitutional claims brought under § 1983. The current operative complaint is the comprehensive amended complaint dated November 23, 2007.

The remaining counts allege that defendants violated plaintiffs’ 1) Eighth Amendment right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment by exposing them to harmful environmental conditions at the SBCC, 2) First Amendment rights by retaliating against them for filing grievances and law suits, 3) fundamental right of access to the courts and 4) Due Process and Equal Protection rights.

In early 2013, 13 defendants moved to dismiss the complaints against them for failure to state a claim (Docket Nos. 308, 321 and 337).1 For the reasons that follow, those motions will be allowed.

[139]*139II. Legal Analysis

A. Standard of Review

To overcome a motion to dismiss, Federal Rule of Civil of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires a complaint to include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 8(a)(2). This statement “needs only enough detail to provide a defendant with ‘fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’ ” Ocasio-Hernandez v. Fortuño-Burset, 640 F.3d 1, 12 (1st Cir.2011) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). At a minimum, the complaint must “set forth minimal facts as to who did what to whom, when [and] where.” Educadores Puertorriqueños en Accion v. Hernandez, 367 F.3d 61, 68 (1st Cir.2004).

A district court assesses “the sufficiency of the complaint’s factual allegations in two steps.” Manning v. Boston Medical Ctr. Corp., 725 F.3d 34, 43 (1st Cir.2013).

First, conclusory allegations that merely parrot the relevant legal standard are disregarded, as they are not entitled to the presumption of truth. Second, we accept the remaining factual allegations as true and decide if, drawing all reasonable inferences in plaintiffs’ favor, they are sufficient to show an entitlement to relief.

Id. A pleading must set out “a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. Rather than “a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully,” the complaint must “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). In weighing possibility against plausibility, the court

appropriately draw[s] on [its] judicial experience and common sense [but] may not disregard factual allegations even if it strikes a savvy judge that actual proof of those facts is improbable.

Manning, 725 F.3d at 43 (citing Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

B. Massachusetts Department of Correction Motion to Dismiss

As an initial matter, plaintiffs’ § 1983 claims against the Massachusetts DOC are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. The First Circuit has previously held that the Massachusetts DOC is entitled to sovereign immunity as an agency of the Commonwealth. Poirier v. Mass. Dep’t of Corr., 558 F.3d 92, 97 & n. 6 (1st Cir.2009). Plaintiffs’ claims for money damages against state officials acting in their official capacities are similarly barred. See Will v. Mich. Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989). As a result, the Court’s inquiry is limited to plaintiffs’ claims against individual defendants in their personal capacities.

The Court finds that even if it draws all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs’ favor, the amended complaints fail to state claims upon which relief can be granted.

1. Eighth Amendment Claims

In order to prevail on their claim that SBCC’s environment was unsafe such that it violated their Eighth Amendment rights, the prisoners must show that 1) the alleged deprivation is objectively serious and denies prisoners the “minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities” and 2) prison officials were deliberately indifferent to an excessive risk to inmate health or safety. Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 296-303, [140]*140111 S.Ct. 2321, 115 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991); DesRosiers v. Moran, 949 F.2d 15, 18 (1st Cir.1991).

Plaintiffs cannot satisfy this standard.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hall v. Capeless
D. Massachusetts, 2021
Foster v. Commissioner of Correction (No. 2)
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2020
Huertas Leon v. Colon-Rondon
376 F. Supp. 3d 167 (U.S. District Court, 2019)
Holloman v. Clarke
208 F. Supp. 3d 373 (D. Massachusetts, 2016)
Sepulveda v. UMass Correctional Health Care
160 F. Supp. 3d 371 (D. Massachusetts, 2016)
Pollard v. Georgetown School District
132 F. Supp. 3d 208 (D. Massachusetts, 2015)
Feijoo v. Massachusetts Department of Public Safety
62 F. Supp. 3d 198 (D. Massachusetts, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
979 F. Supp. 2d 136, 2013 WL 5518980, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hannon-v-beard-mad-2013.